I’m not excessive by any means, except where God’s needs are concerned, like kitchen cupboard doors not closed, dishes washed and not put away, and pictures on a wall that aren’t hanging straight! On these things, God and I are in full agreement. Doors and dishes are quick fixes. Picture hanging, however, poses another problem. Case in point: we have three pastel prints that I thought would look cool framed together in one wide frame. Cool, yes, but it is 57” wide, needing only nails in the wall on which to attach the hangers found at each end of the frame. This artwork was to go over the head of the bed which meant kneeling on the mattress for the measuring and nailing. This proved supremely awkward. First, how to get a precise measurement, hanger to hanger? Then, getting the height correct – at both ends! The perfect level was at long last achieved. (There may or may not have been more than a few random nail holes behind that perfectly leveled frame) phew! Wire-attached pictures, on the other hand, need only gentle tweaks to restore their balance.
So, balancing some things proves easier than others. Habits, for instance, long-held ones, often seem to vigorously resist ceding their ‘rightful’ place when a new habit presents itself as being more beneficial. For example: more Scripture? less news absorption, more prayer? less scroll time, more worship? less sports/movie watching. More healthy eating? less of all that other yummy stuff. Even that word, ‘less,’ feels like losing to a foreign invasion, putting us on the defensive.
God is forever inviting us to more of Him which is an incredible truth, seeing Who He is and who we are. But maybe our old nature instinctively interprets the invite to ‘His more’ as being less of ‘our more.’ Maybe the still-unredeemed, still un-surrendered, areas of our hearts are so enthralled by the ‘more’ of our culture, of our society, of our darkened understanding, that we are in need of a Holy Spirit refreshing to rouse us from our slumber. Maybe He wants to be just that in this New Year. Maybe He’s able. Maybe He’s stirring us even now to the ‘new’ He has planned for us. Maybe His ‘more’ is the ‘more’ we’ve been praying for! Maybe. PD